At the clarity of her judgment.
At the boldness of her vision.
At the strength of her resolve.
But the priests don’t see what I do—they only see a woman who has dared touch a Learned, and they react, beginning as one to move through an attack form.
I want to jump in front of Tasa, to shield her—
But I already decided she didn’t need a shield, didn’t I?
What sheneedsfrom me is to change people’s hearts.
So I fall into my own form, and begin to move, too.
Tasa continues to speak—to use her prodigious skill at turning a confrontation, at managing people, at making them like her and see her as a person—and nothing I can do is more powerful than her words.
They’ve moved me, after all.
So what can a sage do?
What canIdo?
I can have her back, always.
I think as I move, and since the priests don’t know what I’m doing—Muka will recognize this from me as a kind of meditation as I gather my power, but she’s not the one preparing to attack—they abort their attack form, shifting seamlessly to a defensive one.
A form designed to repel overwhelming offensive force.
Thinking, thinking.
With the dragon scales in my pocket, I couldchangethe priests’ minds. But like in Crystal Hollow, it wouldn’t last. As soon as they return to the priesthood with their reports, they’ll be back with even more priests.
Not least because, having seen one dragon scale, they might realize what I’ve managed, and that will doom more than just Zan.
But every seed planted has a chance to bloom.
Every heart that changes is one more.
Abruptly, I shift my movements, at once sure of what is needed from me—
WhatIneed from myself.
Thisis the Sage of Wrath’s legacy, and what I can be proud as the Sage of Resolve to take further than she could:
Planting my feet in the ground behind Tasa and sayingno more.
And not just taking a stand, butcontinuingto try, because it’s Yora who created the wall the priests will break against.
It’s for me to turn the tide back against them.
I—we—are outnumbered.
Realizing I wasn’t ready to attack, the priests have shifted back to an offensive form while they can.
I can’t use overwhelming magic to defeat them without bringing worse down on us.
But I can find new ways to use my power beyond the narrow way the priesthood locked me into.
